KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) this year ended not with a bang but a whimper for Malaysia, who suffered a 3-0 defeat to China in the men's final today.
Champions from two years ago, Malaysia were somewhat handicapped from the beginning as world No. 10 men's singles player Lee Zii Jia and world No. 15 Ng Tze Yong were ruled out of the final with sinus and back problems respectively.
As a result, former Asian junior champion Leong Jun Hao stepped up to first singles duty, while doubles shuttler Haikal Nazri was listed as the third singles player, in the event the tie went down to the wire.
Known to be a fighter in team events, world No. 38 Jun Hao threw everything on the line, but it was not enough to overcome China's southpaw Weng Hong Yang, who carved out a 21-19, 21-17 win.
It was all left to team captain Soh Wooi Yik and his partner Aaron Chia to level the score, but the former world champions failed to deliver, losing narrowly 21-16, 16-21, 23-21.
Not wanting to put the blame on anybody, Wooi Yik admitted that the BATC this year was a good lesson for everybody on the team.
According to the 26-year-old, who celebrated his birthday on Saturday, unfortunate events can strike at any time, and it is crucial to be prepared for them.
It is important to note that Zii Jia's withdrawal from the final was only confirmed, just hours before the match.
"This is a good experience for us to face; I always think positively and believe this will make us stronger.
"The Olympics are coming soon, and we could be facing more challenges in the lead-up to that. I would rather we face it now and know how to deal with it," said Wooi Yik.
Disappointed to not being able to contribute a point, Aaron said: "I don't want to say that not having our best players was the main problem. The China pair played really well today too.
"Perhaps they had a slight advantage since they had the lead.
"We came into this tournament as a team, so if a player or two get injured, we need to bite the bullet and accept it as part of the journey."
On whether the team crumbled under pressure, Wooi Yik replied: "The pressure of expectation will always be there. We all wanted to win because it was our responsibility to give our best.
"There is no excuse. We gave our all, but we couldn't make it count at the crucial point.
"We accept our shortcomings and need to continue working hard."
China completed the rout when world No. 35 Lei Lan Xi downed birthday-boy Eogene Ewe, who turned 19 yesterday, 21-10, 21-14 in the second singles match.
Meanwhile, in the women's final, India created history when they defeated Thailand 3-1 to clinch their maiden BATC crown as well as their first women's team title.
